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Re: [Healeys] Car dies suddenly

To: healeys@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Car dies suddenly
From: Elton Schulz <eschulz@frontiernet.net>
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2019 17:07:10 -0400
Delivered-to: mharc@autox.team.net
Delivered-to: healeys@autox.team.net
References: <CAPTa0B52Mu68Uj6WK9f4cQKhLu8o5JAidxp8J=30WvaTnJdmcg@mail.gmail.com>
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Michael,
Could it be the battery cutoff switch in the trunk or the black/white 
wire from that switch to the distributor?
Elton
On 3/19/2019 1:45 PM, Michael Oritt wrote:
> Yesterday morning I went out for a drive and after about five miles 
> the car suddenly died. There was no rough running, sputtering or 
> missing leading up to it---the car simply died. I coasted to the side 
> of the road and after about 30 seconds since the key was still on I 
> pushed the start button. To my surprise the car started immediately, 
> revved freely and idled smoothly. A bit perplexed I decided to drive 
> on to see what would happen now that I was paying close attention. The 
> car accelerated smoothly and ran fine for about 1/2 mile and then it 
> died again in the same manner as earlier. I shut off the key, popped 
> the hood and examined the ignition system. Everything seemed 
> fine---all spark plug leads were firmly in place as was the lead from 
> the coil to the distributor. The power wires to the coil were tight 
> and the harness/connector to the distributor (see below) seemed fine.
>
>
> After scratching my head for a couple of minutes I got in the car, 
> turned on the ignition and pushed the start button. Again, the car 
> started right up and ran normally. With fingers crossed I headed for 
> my shop/garage, about ten miles away and got there without any further 
> event. Though the problem did not seem to be fuel related I decided to 
> verify that this was not a fuel delivery issue. I have a double-headed 
> SU fuel pump wired to a switch mounted just behind the driver's seat 
> which allows me to switch between pumps as well as turn the fuel pump 
> off. While I was running the car at highway speeds it ran perfectly on 
> either pump and when I selected the "off" position it slowly lost 
> power as I expected it to---but in no way like it had suddenly twice 
> died 15 or so minutes earlier. This indicated I was not dealing with a 
> fuel issue but rather something related either to the ignition system 
> or to the primary wires that run to it.
>
>
> This morning I dove a bit deeper to try and diagnose the problem. The 
> car has a Mallory Unilite ignition system tied to an MSD coil which 
> has been in place and performed faultlessly for a number of years. I 
> removed the distributor cap and everything appears to be okay, at 
> least visually. The interior of the distributor was clean and dry as 
> was the cap, leads, carbon contact, optical reader, etc. Mallory 
> specifies the use of a ballast resistor in the lead from the power 
> source to the coil and with the engine fast-idling I tested 12.5 VDC 
> to the resistor and about 5.5-6 VDC out of it and at the positive coil 
> terminal.
>
>
> I have a large low-oil pressure light that is mounted in the dash in 
> place of the original overdrive switch. It is wired from the ignition 
> switch through a 10 psi normally-closed switch mounted in the oil 
> pressure gauge sender line and then to the light. I point this out 
> because both times when the engine shut down yesterday the light 
> immediately came on, from which I conclude that the ignition switch 
> itself is not the source of the problem. And though I did not remove 
> the ignition key switch the wires to and from it seem tight and intact.
>
>
> So my question is: What do I do? I hate to throw parts at it without 
> finding something that appears to be defective but I don't know where 
> to start any further tests, etc. I also don't want to simply wait for 
> the issue to happen again. BTW over the weekend I drove about 150 
> miles with no issues whatever. Beyond installing four new plugs last 
> week I have not performed any work related to the ignition system. All 
> suggestions/questions welcome....
>
> Best--Michael Oritt, BN1
>
>
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    Michael,<br>
    Could it be the battery cutoff switch in the trunk or the
    black/white wire from that switch to the distributor?<br>
    Elton<br>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/19/2019 1:45 PM, Michael Oritt
      wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote
cite="mid:CAPTa0B52Mu68Uj6WK9f4cQKhLu8o5JAidxp8J=30WvaTnJdmcg@mail.gmail.com"
      type="cite">
      <div dir="ltr">
        <div class="gmail_default" style="color:#3333ff"><span
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">Yesterday
            morning I went out for a drive and after about five miles
            the car suddenly died. There was no rough running,
            sputtering or missing leading up to it&#8212;the car simply died.
            I coasted to the side of the road and after about 30 seconds
            since the key was still on I pushed the start button. To my
            surprise the car started immediately, revved freely and
            idled smoothly. A bit perplexed I decided to drive on to see
            what would happen now that I was paying close attention. The
            car accelerated smoothly and ran fine for about 1/2 mile and
            then it died again in the same manner as earlier. I shut off
            the key, popped the hood and examined the ignition system.
            Everything seemed fine&#8212;all spark plug leads were firmly in
            place as was the lead from the coil to the distributor. The
            power wires to the coil were tight and the harness/connector
            to the distributor (see below) seemed fine.</span><br
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">
          <br
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">
          <br
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">
          <span
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">After
            scratching my head for a couple of minutes I got in the car,
            turned on the ignition and pushed the start button. Again,
            the car started right up and ran normally. With fingers
            crossed I headed for my shop/garage, about ten miles away
            and got there without any further event. Though the problem
            did not seem to be fuel related I decided to verify that
            this was not a fuel delivery issue. I have a double-headed
            SU fuel pump wired to a switch mounted just behind the
            driver&#8217;s seat which allows me to switch between pumps as
            well as turn the fuel pump off. While I was running the car
            at highway speeds it ran perfectly on either pump and when I
            selected the &#8220;off&#8221; position it slowly lost power as I
            expected it to&#8212;but in no way like it had suddenly twice died
            15 or so minutes earlier. This indicated I was not dealing
            with a fuel issue but rather something related either to the
            ignition system or to the primary wires that run to 
it.&nbsp;</span><br
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">
          <br
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">
          <br
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">
          <span
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">This
            morning I dove a bit deeper to try and diagnose the problem.
            The car has a Mallory Unilite ignition system tied to an MSD
            coil which has been in place and performed faultlessly for a
            number of years. I removed the distributor cap and
            everything appears to be okay, at least visually. The
            interior of the distributor was clean and dry as was the
            cap, leads, carbon contact, optical reader, etc. Mallory
            specifies the use of a ballast resistor in the lead from the
            power source to the coil and with the engine fast-idling I
            tested 12.5 VDC to the resistor and about 5.5-6 VDC out of
            it and at the positive coil terminal.&nbsp;</span><br
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">
          <br
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">
          <br
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">
          <span
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">I
            have a large low-oil pressure light that is mounted in the
            dash in place of the original overdrive switch. It is wired
            from the ignition switch through a 10 psi normally-closed
            switch mounted in the oil pressure gauge sender line and
            then to the light. I point this out because both times when
            the engine shut down yesterday the light immediately came
            on, from which I conclude that the ignition switch itself is
            not the source of the problem. And though I did not remove
            the ignition key switch the wires to and from it seem tight
            and intact.</span><br
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">
          <br
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">
          <br
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">
          <span
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">So
            my question is: What do I do? I hate to throw parts at it
            without finding something that appears to be defective but I
            don&#8217;t know where to start any further tests, etc. I also
            don&#8217;t want to simply wait for the issue to happen again. BTW
            over the weekend I drove about 150 miles with no issues
            whatever. Beyond installing four new plugs last week I have
            not performed any work related to the ignition system. All
            suggestions/questions welcome&#8230;.</span><br>
        </div>
        <div class="gmail_default" style="color:#3333ff"><span
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)"><br>
          </span></div>
        <div class="gmail_default" style="color:#3333ff"><span
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)">Best--Michael
            Oritt, BN1</span></div>
      </div>
      <br>
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      <br>
      <pre wrap="">_______________________________________________

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